


Who His Father Is

by Treekianthia



Series: Bravely Babies [5]
Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Birthday, Bravely Default Spoilers, Bravely Second Spoilers, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 20:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14901239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treekianthia/pseuds/Treekianthia
Summary: Edea’s oldest son struggles to get along with his parents, especially his father, so when her son starts asking questions on his birthday that only Ringabel can answer, problems start to emerge. (Fic Archive: 01/07/17)





	Who His Father Is

**Author's Note:**

> The following fic was originally posted to outside sources on 01/07/17. It is being posted here for archival purposes and to help document my progress as a writer. It is also part of a post-canon AU referred to as the Bravely Babies, and more info on the children characters and the AU itself can be found on my tumblr blog woodland-knight.

Edea woke up to the smell of chocolate and peanut butter.

When she opened her eyes, it was dark. The curtains in her room were pulled over the windows, and even then it didn’t seem that the sun was up yet. She felt cold, and looking around she noticed there was nothing covering her. It seemed her husband had pulled all the blankets away from her during the night, leaving her with nothing to keep herself warm during the freezing, winter morning. Glancing at Ringabel, she could see he was dead asleep underneath a mound of blankets. She had no idea how he managed to take all of them away from her.

Pulling a blanket away from Ringabel and wrapping it around herself, Edea sleepily tried to get an idea of what was going on. It was early morning, evident by the fact the sun hadn’t risen, and for some odd reason, the smell of chocolate and peanut butter had managed to fill the manor. The only logical conclusion she could reach is that her children were up to something, but it was weird for them to be up before their father. Something was going on though, and she wanted to find out what it was and stop it before her children did something stupid. Forcing herself out of bed, Edea went over to a dresser and pulled out something she could slip on.

“Mmggh… Edeaaaa, come back to beeeed…”

Edea turned around and saw Ringabel shifting around underneath the blankets.  _So much for being dead asleep…_  He seemed exhausted though, and his head was barely poking out from underneath one of the comforters. She could that he had been drooling a bit, and some of his hair had started clinging to the sides of his face where it had gotten wet. He looked ridiculous.

“Go back to sleep, Ringabel, I’ll be back soon. I’m just going to make sure the kids aren’t getting into any trouble,” she told him as she pulled a woolen undershirt over her head. Ringabel groaned as Edea put her arms through the sleeves and pressed his face against his pillow.

“But if you go now I won’t be able to go back to sleep, and then I’ll be grumpy and moody for the rest of the day!” he complained before yawning. “I’m sure the kids are fine, so just come back and snuggle with me instead!”

Edea rolled her eyes and shook her head.  _Almost 50-years-old, and Ringabel still managed to be a drama queen._  “I won’t be long, I promise,” she assured him while searching for some pants to put on. All she had to do was go downstairs, make sure the kids were alright, and then she could come back up and go back to sleep. Simple as that.

Ringabel, however, groaned again and rolled up in the blankets. “I just get lonely without you, and the bed gets cold!” he told her as he watched her from the bed. His hair was sticking to the pillow now, and he looked even more ridiculous than before. Edea laughed and walked over before leaning over and kissing his cheek.

“I know, Ringabel, but you can survive being away from my side for longer than ten minutes. You’ve done it before, you know,” she reminded him as she grabbed a pair of his pants off the floor. Though they weren’t anywhere close to her size, they would do for now.

“Promise me it will be no longer than twenty,” he requested, “And do make sure that you bring back my pants. I do need those later.”

Edea shook her head again. “I promise that I’ll be back before the bed gets cold and that I’ll have your pants with me,” she told him. She didn’t understand why he had to be such a pain in the early mornings, but it was probably because he didn’t have his coffee yet. Smiling, Ringabel closed his eyes and made himself comfortable.

“And that’s why I love you,” he said as he began to doze back off. At the rate he was going, Ringabel would be asleep again before she even had a chance to get back to the room. Edea snorted.

“I’m glad you love me because I promise to bring your pants back,” she joked as she put the pants on and buckled them. “Make sure you don’t sleep in though. You do remember what day it is, right?”

“Yes, yes, of course, dear… I had no plans on forgetting,” Ringabel mumbled before letting his head sink into the pillow. Edea bent over and rolled up the legs of Ringabel’s pants. They definitely didn’t ever have a chance of fitting her correctly.

“Good, because I’m sure the kids didn’t even think about it. I have no idea what the plans for today are, but once I know I’ll tell you,” she told him as she straightened back up. Ringabel didn’t respond though, and she assumed it was because he was falling back asleep. Trying her best to not wake him back up, Edea put some slippers onto her feet and headed out of the room.

The moment she stepped out into the hall, the smell of chocolate and peanut butter seemed to grow stronger. It was overwhelming to say the least, and she wondered what kind of mess her kids must have made to cause such a thing. As she headed towards the stairs, she could hear banging and talking from the floor below. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen, and Edea wasn’t sure what her children could be up to. It wasn’t like them to try and make their own breakfast in the morning, or to even be up without being dragged out of bed.

When she entered the kitchen, she could see all four of her children hustling and bustling around the room. The twins were wearing aprons, and it seemed they both had a sheet of cookies in their hands. Zealan, meanwhile, was moving cookies from another sheet onto a rack, and Valentine was causing a mess as she mixed flour and sugar in a bowl. Their pet Frosti, Icedora, slept on the table next to a freshly rolled out ball of dough, and the kitchen itself had splatters of batter all around it. It looked as if the kids had been baking all morning.

“Good morning, mommy!” Valentine said as she kept mixing the contents in her bowl. “We’ve been making peanut butter chocolate cookies! You want one?”

Edea walked over and took the cookie Valentine offered her. “Well that explains the smell, but what gave you the idea to do all of this in the first place? And why so early?” she asked before taking a bite. It was chewy and delicious, but needed a bit more sugar for her tastes. The twins, meanwhile, brushed passed her as they went to put the next batch in the oven.

“It was Zealan’s idea!” Lyvia explained as she opened the oven. “He woke us up at like, six in the morning asking if we wanted to make cookies for New Years Eve. Since that waitress we keep trying to hook him up with gave him that cookbook for Solstice Night, we figured it’d let him try it out.”

“And even if we said no, chances are he and Vivi would still try to make the cookies anyway,” Alternis continued explaining as he put the cookie sheets in, “so we figured we’d help out to make sure that the two of them didn’t accidentally light anything on fire while you and dad were sleeping!”

Edea raised an eyebrow. “Alternis, I honestly don’t think that it’s Zealan and Valentine I need to worry about when it comes to burning the house down,” she told him with a flat tone. She was glad they were at least trying to be responsible though, since that was something they sorely needed to learn to do. “Is this true though, Zealan? Did you ask them all to make cookies with you?” she asked as she turned towards her oldest son. He had just finished putting his batch of cookies on the tray and seemed about ready to eat one himself.

“Y-yes, Mrs. Lee! I d-didn’t think it would be a problem!” he stuttered as he dropped a cookie back onto the tray. He was nervous, though Edea couldn’t be certain why. Her focus, however, was more on what he had said and not how he had said it.

_Mrs. Lee… He’d been there a year and a half, and that was still all he could refer to her as._

Zealan’s origins were complicated. He was biologically Edea and Ringabel’s child, but they had not been the ones to parent him. His father was actually the Alternis Dim of this world, and his mother the Edea of the world Ringabel came from. Though Edea had been under the assumption that the other version of her was dead before Ringabel’s arrival in this world, Ringabel had explained that his formers employers had later found a way to stop her death without altering history. Edea had never fully understood the explanation though, and it was honestly too complicated for her to try and figure out; however, what she did understand was that no matter what, Zealan could never bring himself to refer to her and Ringabel as “mother” and “father”.

Edea walked over and grabbed a cookie off the tray. “I guess that’s one way to start the day,” she said as she handed the cookie to Zealan. “Though I would have preferred for you to wait until your father and I were awake to start baking with such strong smelling ingredients.”

Zealan nodded his head. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” he promised, though his voice seemed strained. Edea could see his lips were pursed, and he was starting to look as if there was something more to say. He stayed quiet though and popped the cookie into his mouth instead.

“Happy New Years Eve, mommy!” Valentine chimed as she skipped over to her mother. Valentine was still in her pajamas, which were now covered in flour and sugar, and she had probably eaten a few more cookies than she should have based on the chocolate on her face. She was in desperate need of a bath.

“Happy New Years Eve to you too, dear,” Edea said before kneeling down and wiping flour off of Valentine’s cheek. “Are you ready for all the fun and exciting things we get to do today?”

“Mhm! I hope we can go to the park, and get lots of parfaits, and go see the Geneologias, and eat cookies, and see fireworks, and a ton of other things like that!” Valentine happily exclaimed while hugging her mother. Edea had to be careful not to lose her balance as the small child latched onto her, and she steadied herself off by holding onto her daughter’s shoulders.

“Well, what we do all depends on what Zealan wants to do today, you know that, right?” Edea asked as she returned her daughter’s hug. She could hear the twins groaning, and the two of them leaned up against the table.

“Really? What  _Zealan_  wants to do? You know he’s the most boring person ever, right?” Lyvia complained before huffing. Alternis nodded his head in agreement and took a moment to grab Icedora before she rolled off the table in her sleep.

“If you gave Zealan the option between going out to fight monsters and watching paint dry, he’d choose to watch the paint! It’s like he doesn’t know how to have fun!” he whined, much to Edea’s annoyance. Glaring at the two, she let go of Valentine and stood back up.

“You two are aware of what day it is today, aren’t you?” she asked them with a stern tone. _It seemed she had been right in what she had told Ringabel earlier._  The two looked at each other and shrugged before turning back to their mother.

“New Years Eve? The day before Dad’s birthday? …Dadmas Eve?” they asked in unison, much to Edea’s disappointment. She continued to glare at them and gestured towards their older brother.

“Today is Zealan’s birthday!” she told them with the same stern tone. “That’s why he gets to choose what we do, so we know how he wants to celebrate!”

The three younger children let out a loud gasp. “That’s right, it is his birthday!” Lyvia said in shock. “Since we didn’t get to celebrate last year, I totally forgot that it’s on New Year’s Eve!”

Alternis looked at his brother and frowned. “I’m sorry we didn’t realize it sooner, Zealan,” he apologized. “You’re not angry with us, are you?”

Zealan shook his head. “I had no plans to celebrate today, so I’m not bothered the three of you forgot. To be honest, I’m surprised Mrs. Lee remembered,” he explained. Surprised by her oldest brother’s words, Valentine let out another loud gasp.

“But you have to celebrate! It’s your birthday! If you don’t celebrate, how else are you supposed to get a bunch of presents for no reason!?” she cried out in disbelief. Zealan winced a bit, and Edea could see he was becoming uncomfortable.

“Valentine, shush. You’re going to wake your father,” Edea warned. “As for you, Zealan, are you really certain you don’t want to celebrate? It won’t be a problem for any of us if we do.”

“I’m certain,” Zealan assured Edea with a pained smile. “I’ve never liked my birthday anyway, so I’d prefer for it to pass as if it never happened.”

Edea suddenly felt stupid.  _Of course he wouldn’t want to celebrate his birthday…_  It marked the day his mother died. There was a reason Ringabel had brought Zealan back to this world, and that was because Zealan had been left without a loving family. His mother had died in childbirth, and his father had vanished a few days later. His grandfather had refused to care for him, and he was left to be raised by the Kamiizumi of that world, who even though cared for him deeply, struggled to raise Zealan on his own. As a result, when Ringabel had learned of Zealan’s existence, he felt he had no choice but to take him into a better home.

“Pleeeease, Zealan?” Valentine started to beg. “You always celebrate stuff with us, so I wanna celebrate with you too!” she told her brother as she clung to his legs. She was giving him a big smile that she normally only gave Ringabel when she was trying to make sure he didn’t say no.

“Well, I…” Zealan mumbled as he tried to figure out what to do. The twins, meanwhile, were making sure the last batch of cookies weren’t burning.

“I mean, we’re just going to be celebrating dad’s birthday tomorrow anyway, so we’re still going to be celebrating something whether or not Zealan wants to,” Lyvia pointed out as she pulled a cookie sheet out. Alternis leaned next to her and took the other sheet out as well.

“Why don’t we celebrate their birthdays together? Dad probably hates his birthday as much as Zealan does, so it’ll definitely be an event,” he suggested. “Since mom is the Grand Marshal, she can probably change tomorrow’s dinner reservations to tonight instead.”

Edea thought for a moment and nodded her head. “It’s possible. I’m not sure how the restaurant will feel about the reservation change, but they can’t really tell me no,” Edea said before shrugging. She didn’t really like to abuse her power over trivial matters such as this, but she figured it was harmless enough.

Zealan let out a sigh. “Alright, I guess I’ll be willing to celebrate just this once, but… No presents or telling me happy birthday, please…” he requested with a solemn tone. Edea couldn’t help but feel bad for forcing Zealan into this, but she hoped he he still found a way to enjoy himself.

“With that decided, I think it’s time to go wake up your father and tell him what’s going on. He might be grumpy, but it has to be done. Alternis, Lyvia, will you go get him out of bed?” Edea asked as she turned to the twins. The two of them suddenly became eager, and big smiles spread across their faces.

“I’ll get the pots and pans!”

“I’ll get the metal spoons-”

“Like normal people,” Edea interrupted as she gave the two a deadpan stare. The two of them let out a collective “aaaw” and sulked their way out of the room with Icedora in tow, and Edea, meanwhile, turned her attention back to her other two children. “As for you two, you’re going to help me start cleaning up,” she said before rolling up her sleeves. They had quite a bit of cleanup to do, but it wouldn’t take long with the three of them.

“I bet I can clean up more than you, Zealan!” Valentine taunted as she started to gather up messy bowls. Zealan didn’t respond, but smiled and started to help Valentine gather dirty dishes off the table. As they did so, Edea double checked to make sure the oven was off (which it hadn’t been), and got to work on cleaning the dishes the other two brought over.

Ten minutes later, there was howling laughter and sounds of stamping feet as somebody ran down the stairs. A second later, the twins ran past the kitchen entryway, and Ringabel followed a moment afterwards. He was yelling at them over one thing or another, but Edea couldn’t quite make out what it was. Groaning, Edea put the dishes she was cleaning down in the sink and walked out. The twins were pointing and laughing at their father, who was obviously furious with them.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?” Edea yelled as she stormed over to the three. The twins were too busy laughing to say anything, but Ringabel seemed very willing to be vocal about the situation.

“These two thought it would be fun to wake me up by shoving Icedora under the blankets! And to make matters worse, they decided to draw on my face with marker before doing so!” Ringabel explained in an angry voice. Taking a better look at him, Edea could indeed see there were doodles all over his face. Lyvia let out a giant snort.

“Aw, come on dad! They match your tattoos!” she said before going into another fit of giggles. Her brother was laughing as much as she was, but he was laughing into the fur of his pet frosti to muffle it. Ringabel huffed and stamped his foot.

“You two better learn to behave yourselves or else your mother and I are going to ground you until the day you move out!” he loudly declared. The twins stared at their parents in disbelief, and it didn’t take long for them to protest.

“You can’t do that!” Alternis complained in retaliation. “Come on, mom! Tell dad that you can’t do that!”

Edea puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips. “All three of you need to stop this instant! Ringabel, you need to stop chasing them, and you two, you need to apologize to your father right now!” she lectured. She wasn’t in the mood for dealing with their ridiculous behavior and just wanted to have a nice day.

“We’re sorry, dad…” the twins grumbled as they looked away from their mother. Edea kept her chest puffed out and shook her finger at them.

“While you’re not grounded, you two will be responsible for cleaning up the rest of the kitchen. No ifs, ands, or buts!” she told them with a harsh tone. “You two really need to get it into your head your jokes will not be tolerated!”

“Yes, mom… We’re sorry, mom…” the twins once again grumbled before shuffling off to the kitchen. Edea finally unpuffed her chest and let out a deep sigh.

“As for you, Ringabel…” she began as she turned towards her husband. “Please go put some pants on. You’re going to get sick if you keep running around the house with nothing on.”

Ringabel looked down at Edea’s legs. “Last I checked, you were wearing my pants,” he pointed out before raising an eyebrow. He sounded a lot calmer now, even cheeky perhaps, but Edea was unamused.

“You have more than one pair of pants, Ringabel,” she bluntly reminded him. Ringabel began to pout, but he muttered something about going to get another pair before sulking his way back to the stairs. As soon as she saw him go down the upper hall, Edea headed back to the kitchen.

When Edea got there, Alternis had Icedora licking batter off the walls while he cleaned the table and Lyvia did the dishes. Zealan seemed to be pouring cereal, and Valentine was bringing over the milk. Edea leaned against the archway and watched.

“Zealan, when you’re done with breakfast, go get cleaned up. You’re coming with me to get the reservations changed,” she said before yawning. Zealan looked over, but didn’t protest.

“Alright, Mrs. Lee, if that’s what you want,” he told her before pouring milk into a bowl. Valentine reached up and took it before skipping back over to the table.

“What about me, mommy? Can I go too?” she asked before getting a spoonful of cereal and sticking it in her mouth. Edea shook her head and straightened herself up.

“You’ll be in charge of keeping your father company while we’re out. Just make sure he doesn’t lay in bed sulking all day,” Edea explained. “You know how cranky he gets around this time of year.”

“Will do, mommy!” Valentine promised before eating more of her cereal. Having his own bowl of cereal now, Zealan sat next to Valentine and began eating as well.

“I’ll meet you by the door once I’m ready if that’s okay with you,” Zealan told Edea between bites. Edea nodded and headed towards the stairs.

“Just promise me you won’t take too long!” Edea called back as she headed up the steps. “It isn’t polite to keep your mother waiting!”

An hour later, Edea and Zealan found themselves trudging down a snowy path leading into the city. It had snowed during the night, so a fresh layer of powder crunched beneath their feet. It was freezing, so Edea hand bundled herself in layer after layer in order to keep warm; meanwhile, Zealan had settled on his normal jacket, hood, and scarf that hid most of his appearance to keep him from getting chilly. Edea wasn’t sure how he was managing to keep warm, especially since she was still a tad bit cold, and thought that maybe he was just ignoring it. It was hard to really tell how he felt with his face covered.

“Are you okay, Zealan?” Edea asked as she tried to get a good look at his eyes. They were the same shade of blue as hers and the only part of his appearance he had inherited from her. She couldn’t, however, get a good read on his emotions by looking at them alone.

“I’m fine, Mrs. Lee,” he assured her, a bit muffled, as they continued walking. “Why do you ask?”

Edea shook her head. “You’re just a bit quiet is all,” she explained to him. “I just want to make sure you’re feeling alright.”

Zealan stopped for a moment and looked towards Edea. “I’m just thinking about what you said earlier, about how Mr. Lee gets grumpy around this time of year,” he admitted to her. Edea tilted her head, curious about why that was on Zealan’s mind.

“Is that so? Well, it’s like your brother mentioned earlier. Your father doesn’t really like celebrating his birthday either, which just results in him being a bit of a grump around it,” Edea explained. It was a simple enough answer, but she still felt there was more to this conversation.

“Does it have anything to do with what happened with my actual father?” Zealan asked her. “The last time Mr. Lee and I argued… He mentioned he had been abandoned by his mother, and that he didn’t actually know anything about himself.”

Edea went quiet for a minute before letting out a sad sigh. “Yes, that’s true… Both Ringabel and your actual father had a rough life before your grandfather took him in, and he never could really… Adjust afterwards. He hated anything that brought attention to himself, and he saw his birthday as just another troublesome thing that did that. He actually hates having his picture taken for similar reasons, as surprising as it seems when you look at my husband,” Edea continued to explain. It was weird for her talk about all of this because it normally wasn’t on her mind, thought it was something that she could easily remember.

“So how did he end up with January 1st as his birthday? I mean, I assume that it isn’t his actual birthday, so something must have happened,” Zealan pointed out. Edea nodded her head, since Zealan was right. There had been something that had happened years ago that resulted in how things were today.

“Your grandfather brought your father home a month before my fifth birthday. I was too young to really understand what was going on, but I was happy to have a new friend to play with. A month later, when your father was brushing my hair to help me get ready for my birthday party, I asked him ‘when is your birthday, Alternis?’ He told me he didn’t remember, and me being young and naive, I said ‘really? Then from now on your birthday is January 1st! That way you’ll never forget!’ When I told my parents at the party, it sort of just caught on. For the next six years, we celebrated his birthday every New Year’s Day. He never seemed to care, but I had fun nonetheless. He forced us to stop when he turned sixteen though, much to my disappointment, but he refused to change his mind. I assume the same happened with Ringabel, since he still acts the same way your father always did…” Edea added on to her explanation. She was quiet for another moment, but then started to laugh a bit before saying something more, “I remember when I was a year younger than you, I forced Ringabel to celebrate his birthday for an entire week. I don’t think he enjoyed himself, but he did get a date with me out of it, so I think it was worth it for him in the end.”

Zealan gave an understanding nod. “I see… Thank you for explaining to me,” he told her before starting to walk down the snowy path again. Edea trailed behind, but had a bit of a harder time walking with all of her layers of clothing.

“If you want to know more, I’m sure Ringabel will be willing to tell you once the holidays are over. He really is the person who knows Alternis Dim the best, seeing as they are the same person,” she reminded Zealan as she tried to keep up. Suddenly, Zealan’s pace quickened, and it seemed he was anxious to get to the restaurant as fast as possible.

“I understand, Mrs. Lee. I will keep that in mind,” Zealan said with a somewhat cold tone. His demeanor had drastically changed from a moment before, and Edea couldn’t pinpoint what the problem was. Though Edea tried to say more, Zealan ended up being quiet the rest of the way to the restaurant.

Once they arrived, Edea was able to get the reservation changed without any problem. Luckily enough, another family had cancelled a few hours earlier, so the staff was able to squeeze in the Lee family without any difficulties. Zealan was still quiet the entire time they were there, though Edea wasn’t sure if it was because of the waitresses gawking at him or because of how he had acted earlier. Either way, he was coming off as being very uncomfortable. Eventually, Edea decided just to send him back to the house to let the others know things were working out.

After the reservations were settled, Edea made another quick stop before heading home. Ringabel had ordered something earlier in the month, and when she had been getting ready he asked if she’d be able to pick it up. She had agreed, of course, so the entire walk home she had a small box bouncing around in her coat pocket. On the walk back to the manor, it started to snow again, making it difficult for her make her way up the hill. When she finally did, Ringabel was waiting for her in the front doorway.

“I see you found your pants,” Edea joked as she made her way passed him. Ringabel laughed a bit before closing the door and turning towards her.

“Of course, dear. You did return them to me when you went to shower after all,” he reminded her as he took her coat and helped her shed a few extra layers. “Now, did you pick up what I asked you to?”

Edea walked a bit of ways into the front room and threw herself onto one of the couches. “It’s in the bottom right pocket of that coat. The lady at the front desk asked a lot of questions about it, so I had to come up with a lie on the spot. I told her it was for my mother,” she told him before burying her face into a pillow. The walk back had taken a lot of energy out of her, and she was ready to take a nap.

Ringabel walked over and put the coat over her. “Let’s leave it in there for now and take it out later,” he suggested to her. “We went through a lot of trouble to get it made, so it wouldn’t do us any good if it got lost.”

Edea moved her head a bit so she wouldn’t be muffled. “I’ll take it out after dinner then. Speaking of which, did Zealan ever make it back?” she asked. Ringabel sat down next to her and stretched his legs.

“He got home about half an hour ago. He didn’t seem like himself though, and when I asked if he was okay, he snapped at me. He’s been in his room ever since then,” Ringabel explained before sighing. Edea couldn’t tell if Ringabel was more sad or grumpy, but he was definitely a good mix of both.

“He was acting strange even before we got to the restaurant. He started asking about his father, and as soon as I mentioned you could tell him more about Alternis, he suddenly became distant,” Edea informed Ringabel, who frowned and leaned his head back against the couch.

“That would explain it then. You know how he feels about me, dear, so he was probably upset that you suggested talking to me about his father,” Ringabel said before sighing again. “I may be Alternis Dim, but I’m not the Alternis Dim that he wants me to be.”

Edea sat up and put her hand on Ringabel’s shoulder. “Zealan has just had a hard time adjusting, and you know that. I’m sure after tonight, he’ll start to warm up to you a little bit more,” Edea tried to assure him. Ringabel, however, shook his head.

“It’ll take a lot more than a birthday celebration neither of us really want to actually get him to like me, Edea” he said flatly. His crankiness was coming back now, and Edea was worried it would cause more issues. Acting quickly, she kissed his cheek before trying to get him to calm down.

“Look at me, Ringabel,” she said as she turned his head towards her. “I’m going to make sure both you and Zealan have a good night tonight. As your wife and his mother, I’m making it my duty to make sure that happens. If you don’t stop acting cranky though, nobody is going to have a good night.”

Ringabel groaned and leaned against Edea’s arm. “But Edeeeea, I turn forty-nine tomorrow! How can you possibly think I can have a good time when I’m going to be so old!” he complained. Edea rolled her eyes and patted his back. She knew that wasn’t the real reason he wasn’t excited for his birthday, but it was definitely a Ringabel-like response. Admittedly, sometimes even she forgot who he used to be because of how he acted now.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I still think you’re rather handsome despite your age. The ‘middle-aged father tormented by his children for the past fifteen years’ look suits you,” she joked, though she hadn’t been lying about the part about him still being handsome. Ringabel did look his age, but he had aged well, unlike some people she knew. He had definitely taken care of himself enough in his younger days for it to pay off.

“Very funny, Edea,” Ringabel grumbled as he slid down and hugged her around her stomach. His crankiness had turned into more of a childish grumpiness, which was thankfully a bit easier for Edea to work with.

“It’s true!” she tried to convince him. “I mean, despite some wrinkles and gray hairs, you’re still very much the same good-looking man I fell in love with. You’ve even managed to still look good with a pompadour!”

Ringabel peered up at her. “Do you really think that, Edea?” he asked with a bit more of cheer in his voice. Edea nodded her head and smiled at him. She knew flattery was the perfect cure for grumpiness.

“Of course, dear. Though I don’t know how much longer you can keep the pompadour up,” she teased. Smiling as well, Ringabel pushed himself up to kiss her.

“Groooss! Mom and dad are being mushy!”

Pulling away from Ringabel, Edea turned her head towards the entryway hall. The twins were standing there with their tongues sticking out, and Valentine was between their legs. All three of them seemed displeased with their parents’ display of affection, causing Edea to roll her eyes.

“Did you finish cleaning the kitchen?” Edea asked the twins while ignoring their comments. Alternis placed his hands behind his head and puffed out his cheeks a bit.

“Yeah, we finished a bit before Zealan got back,” he mentioned with a bored tone. “As soon as he got home though, he sort of barged in, grabbed a bunch of cookies, and left to his room.”

“He seemed really angry about something,” Lyvia added on. “He even ignored Vivi when she ran downstairs to greet him, which is something he’s never done before!”

“Does this mean Zealan isn’t gonna go with us to dinner anymore?” Valentine asked as she walked closer to her parents. Edea could see how sad her little girl was, and she knew she had to do something about it.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Edea said as she stood up. Her coat fell onto the floor as she did so, and Ringabel reached down to grab it for her.

“I’ll go with you,” he told Edea as he straightened back up. “We might be able to sort out this mess a lot quicker if I do, especially since I seem to be a big part in it.”

Edea shook her head as she took the coat from Ringabel’s hand. “No, you stay down here with these three. I think it’s in our best interest if you don’t talk with Zealan again until he’s in a better mood, or else you might get into another argument,” she warned him. Ringabel looked to be caught off guard by the warning, but there was also signs of him being worried.

“Are you positive, Edea? I really do think it would be better if I went with you,” he tried to convince his wife. Edea, however, was not going to budge on her decision. She didn’t know what would happen if the two tried to speak.

“Yes, Ringabel. I’m positive about this. If you just give me a bit of time, I’ll have Zealan back down before we leave for dinner,” she assured him. “In the meantime, you can make sure the twins don’t cause any more trouble today.”

The twins grumbled. “Why do you always assume we’re up to no good!?” they complained as their mother walked passed them. Edea took a brief moment to stop and look back at them.

“Because I’m your mother,” she told them with a smile. The two pouted and mumbled something between each other, but Edea couldn’t catch exactly what they had said. Valentine, meanwhile, bounced over.

“Good luck, mommy! I know you can do it!” she cheered Edea on. Edea smiled at her as well and patted the top of Valentine’s head.

“I’ll be back down with Zealan soon,” Edea reassured her before heading towards the stairs. She was confident she had the perfect method to get Zealan to open back up, and if things went how she hoped, he’d be back to being cheerful by the end of the morning. If not, she could always use donuts to cheer him up.

When Edea reached Zealan’s room, the door was locked. It wasn’t a surprise, but it did make things a little bit harder for her. Leaning her ear against the door, she tried to listen in. She could hear a soft purring noise, which she figured was Zealan’s pet cat, and a soft scratching sound.  _That meant he was more than likely awake…_  Straightening back up, Edea knocked on the door in attempts to get an answer.

_Nothing…_

She knocked again.

_Still nothing…_

She knocked a third time, this time saying something as she did so. “Zealan, can I come in?” she asked as nicely as she could. She was greeted by silence again, but a moment later, there was a soft clicking sound as somebody unlocked the door.

Entering Zealan’s room, Edea could see that it was a mess. There was painting supplies scattered everywhere, and soil from potted bonsai trees was piling below the windows. His bed was covered in what looked like cookie crumbs, and bookshelves filled with journals and thick art books were lined up against the wall opposite of it. In the corner, a bowl of cat food and water sat as a small, long-haired fluffball ate from one of them. She could also see a bottle of medication on the nightstand nearby.

“What do you want?” Zealan asked Edea angrily. He had gone back to sitting on a small stool next to a half painted canvas and was glaring at her. His mood had definitely gotten worse since earlier.

“I just want to talk with you,” she told him as gently as she could. If she was able to show she meant no trouble, perhaps he’d make things a little easier on her. Zealan, however, turned away and went back to work on his painting. The painting itself was dark and gloomy, but a lot of work was going into it. Edea wondered who it was a portrait of.

“If it’s about Mr. Lee then I don’t want to,” he bluntly stated as he worked. “As for tonight, I’ve changed my mind. I’d rather stay home while the rest of you go out to eat. I’ll make myself my own dinner while you’re out.”

“Zealan, what’s wrong?” Edea asked as she slowly walked over. She could see Zealan was gripping onto the paintbrush harder than he should be, and if he didn’t stop, it would more than likely snap in half.

“I don’t want to talk, Mrs. Lee. Please leave me alone,” he requested. His voice was becoming harsher now, and Edea was worried he might lash out. It seemed whatever was going on had really set him off.

“Zealan, please tell me what’s wrong. You’re making everyone worry, and you know it’s not good for you to keep everything bottled up,” she reminded him as she reached out to put her hand on his shoulder. Zealan shifted a bit in order to keep Edea from touching him.

“What part of leave me alone don’t you understand?” Zealan asked with an even harsher tone. Edea stepped back in surprise, stepping onto a paintbrush as she did so. It snapped into multiple pieces underneath her weight.

“Zealan, calm down! You’re not making this any easier on yourself by yelling!” she told him as she tried to step forward again. She could see just how aggravated Zealan had become, and she was worried he’d have a full meltdown with how he was acting.

“I don’t want to talk to you! I want to paint!” Zealan yelled as he began to stand. Being the same height as Ringabel, he towered over Edea. She didn’t let that intimidate her though, and she continued to hold her ground.

“Zealan, listen to me. If you continue to yell, I will have no choice but to go grab your father,” she threatened. She wasn’t sure how Ringabel could really help, but it would give her the upper hand. Zealan started to clench his fists as soon as she mentioned Ringabel.

“Mr. Lee is not my father!” Zealan snapped. “I don’t care what you say, but the two of them are nothing alike! My father was a hero and a powerful knight who would die to protect those he loved, and he deserved so much more than what he got! My father is a greater man than Ringabel will ever be!”

Edea suddenly sensed her own demeanor changing. “Then what does that make Ringabel?” she asked with a serious tone. She was staring straight into Zealan’s eyes, her eyes, as if she was challenging him to continue speaking. Zealan swallowed.

“Ringabel is an egotistical, good for nothing flirt that brings shame to my father’s name! He’s loud, obnoxious, and nothing more than-”

“The man your father became when he was left broken with nowhere else to go,” Edea interrupted. Zealan gave her a shocked look, surprised by the fact she had interrupted, and tried his best to say something in response.

“That…! That isn’t-”

Edea cut Zealan off again. “You keep saying that the two of them are nothing alike, Zealan, but you’re wrong,” she told him while still looking him dead in the eye. “Underneath everything he presents himself as, Ringabel is still Alternis Dim.”

Zealan stood in silence, unsure of how to respond. Edea knew he probably had more to say on the subject, but she was ready to refute everything he had to say. Even if Zealan couldn’t see Ringabel as his father, he needed to at least start seeing him for who he really was. There was more to Ringabel than Zealan knew, and it seemed Edea was the only one who could get him to realize this. Seeing as Zealan wasn’t going to say anything else, Edea spoke again.

“When Ringabel was twenty-three, he witnessed the death of your birth mother. The event was so traumatic for him that he locked his memories away and created a new personality to hide the pain. He had no idea who he was in this world, so he wandered in search of me for answers and found our friends in the process. When his memories returned, so did his life as Alternis Dim. His depression, his pain, and all the terrible things that went with it- all of it was there! Even if he hid it from the rest of us and continued to act as Ringabel, deep down, he was still a man who suffered the same way as your father, and maybe even more,” Edea explained. “Even if you can’t see it, even if nobody can, Alternis Dim is still there inside of him.”

Zealan tried to speak. “I… I….” was the only thing he could muster before falling silent again. It seemed Edea was getting through to him, much to her relief, but there was still a more that needed to be said.

“I’m not saying you have to call Ringabel ‘father’, or even call me ‘mother’. I just want you to understand that there is so much more to Ringabel than you’re willing to see, and that he really does try his best to get along with you. He wants to give you the happy life your parents couldn’t, and he’s willing to sacrifice his own happiness if it means making you smile,” Edea continued explaining. She could see Zealan’s expression soften into something more sad, but he looked to be calming down.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lee… I didn’t know- I mean, I didn’t realize- I mean… I’m sorry,” he apologized. He was having a hard time organizing his thoughts, but Edea didn’t hold it against him. Instead, she hugged him tight and gave him a pat on the back.

“I can’t deny my husband isn’t the same man he used to be, but I also can’t deny that traces of him still exist. Ringabel is a complicated man, but so was your father,” she told him. Zealan returned the hug, and Edea looked up at him and smiled. He still looked sad, but the anger had entirely disappeared.

“Please, I want to know… How did Ringabel save my mother?” he suddenly asked. Edea’s smile turned into a more of a frown, and she wasn’t sure how to properly answer.

“I’ve never really understood how, even though Ringabel has explained it to me many times before… So I think if you want an answer to that, you should ask Ringabel yourself,” she informed him. Zealan nodded his head and relaxed. He seemed a lot less bothered by the suggestion of talking to Ringabel this time around.

“Yes, I’ll do that…” Zealan said as he let go of Edea. Edea let go of him as well, but still stayed rather close to her son.

“Here, let me give you something,” she said as she reached into her coat pocket. “I was going to wait until after dinner to give this to you, but I think it would be better if I gave it to you now. I know you said no presents, but…”

Edea took the small box out of her pocket and handed it to Zealan. He looked down at it, unsure of what to do with it, and Edea gestured for him to open it. Slowly, Zealan lifted the lid off the box before scrunching his face in confusion. Edea started smiling again, amused by Zealan’s reaction, and took a good look at the gift herself. Zealan looked at her.

“A locket…?” he asked curiously, unsure what to make of the gift he had just received. “Why did you get me a locket?”

“Look inside of it,” Edea told him. She watched as he hesitantly fumbled with the diamond shaped trinket until he finally managed to unclasp it. As he looked inside, his eyes widened in surprise.

“These are…” Zealan mumbled as he stared at the contents of the locket. He had become speechless, but that was something Edea had admittedly been expecting.

“Your parents, a month or so before your mother got pregnant with you,” Edea said happily. “It took a lot of work to get these photos, but I can see it’s paying off.”

Zealan looked at Edea once more. “How did you get these..?” he asked while still trying to find the right words. Edea peered at the pictures herself, a bit weirded out from seeing herself there too. It had also been a while since she last saw Alternis Dim smiling.

“Ringabel asked a former co-worker to get the pictures in exchange for a few favors. It was actually his idea to get this made for you, you know. He thought it would help you warm up a bit more to being here,” she explained. “He really loves you, even if he has a hard time expressing it.”

“Thank you… This… This really means a lot to me,” Zealan told her as he closed the locket and held it close. He was smiling in a way that reminded Edea of Ringabel, and she could see a few tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

“Remember Zealan, no matter what, you’re still our son too, and we’re both happy to have you,” she assured him as she wiped his tears. Zealan’s smile grew bigger, and he looked the happiest he had been in a while.

“Thank you, Mrs. Lee,” he said before sniffling a bit. “If my father was here, I’m sure he’d be thanking you too.”

“Then I’m glad that even after all this time, I can still do something for my old friend,” Edea said as she took a hold of Zealan’s hand. “Now come on, let’s go get something to eat. It’s getting close to lunchtime and I’m sure the others are still worried about you,” she pointed out to him. Though they already had plans to eat together during dinner, it wouldn’t hurt to eat as a family during lunch as well. Zealan laughed a bit.

“We could have some of those cookies I baked. There’s plenty of them,” he reminded her. Edea laughed as well, and sniffing the air, she realized the house still had the lingering scent of peanut butter and chocolate.

“And the house is going to smell for weeks because of it,” she teased as she led Zealan out of his room. “During that time though, I’m sure you can do something about cleaning that room of yours.”

Zealan turned a bit pink. “Oh yeah, I’ll see what I can do about that,” he quietly said. Edea patted his shoulder before continuing down the hall.

As the they reached the stairs, Edea suddenly stopped and began to speak. “Oh, and one more thing before we go back to the others,” she said as she turned to Zealan.

“Huh? What is it Mrs. Lee?” he asked as he too stopped dead in his tracks. With her free hand, Edea put her hand on Zealan’s cheek and gave him a soft, motherly smile. After their little talk, there was still one last thing that needed to be said.

_“Happy Birthday, Zealan.”_

**Author's Note:**

> This was the last of the birthday fics that I wrote for my AU, and it was also the latest of them all. It ended up taking so long that I had to cut it short, especially because I had a friend visiting from out of state.
> 
> Zealan has always been a bit... Complicated when it comes to his origins, and I know people might be confused without full context. If you have any questions, I really do suggest checking out my Bravely Babies tag on my blog to find the answers you're looking for.


End file.
